The Princes and the Serpent
by Reiven
Summary: Slash. Seven Hyotei regulars and a frog versus one snake. The fun just keeps on coming, doesn’t it?


_Standard disclaimer applies._

**Authoress**: Reiven.  
**Rating**: G  
**Warning**: Logic is tested; snakes might appear in places that are not natural of their usual habitat.  
**Genre**: Humour.  
**Pairing/Character**: ShishiTori, YuuGaku / Hyotei Gakuen.  
**Summary**: Princes and the Frog Sequel. Seven Hyotei regulars and a frog versus one snake. The fun just keeps on coming, doesn't it?

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**The Princes and the Serpent  
**_- By Reiven -_

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It had been one week since the frog incident and all was not well in Hyotei territory. For one thing, the animosity between Gakuto and Yuushi had done all but reach it's breaking point. While the blue-haired tensai had obviously been doing his part in wooing back his boyfriend, Gakuto was all to ready to thwart his efforts; choosing instead to hang out with the likes of Kabaji and Ootori, even Shishido and Hiyoshi at times. That alone was a clear sign.

Their tennis performance also suffered. With Gakuto unwilling to partner with Yuushi, Atobe and Sakaki had been forced into a tough corner and had abruptly decided that Gakuto would be paired with Ootori, since the second year was the only one beside Yuushi that could put up with Gakuto's attitude. This didn't sit right with Shishido, thus prompting their coach into, by far his most reprehensible decision to date; pairing Shishido with Hiyoshi. He was forced to face his error in judgement soon after. In actuality, only five minutes had passed before he, Kabaji and the rest of the Hyotei members had to put a choke hold on the two boys to keep them from pounding each other.

No one thought to include Jiroh in any of this, simply because the narcoleptic boy (who seemed to become less narcoleptic as of late) never seemed to be around unless they had a match. They would catch a glimpse of him a few times as he snuck back towards the compound behind their locker room, his arms hugging his school bag in suspiciously protective hold to his chest. Neither Atobe nor Sakaki-kantoku made much of a deal by this, therefore the common members found no reason to either.

Unbeknownst to the members of Hyotei Gakuen tennis team, however, that for the past week, Jiroh had been lugging an unwanted guest to school and into their locker room. Until one day, that tiny little move almost proved to be the end of them.

"Has anyone seen Jiroh?" Sakaki-kantoku enquired suddenly after the end of the days' practice.

"I think I saw him headed towards the back courts earlier. He said something about a--"

Suddenly the door swung open and there stood a panting Jiroh, wide awake as none of them had ever seen him before, "I'm...here," he panted, grabbing the door frame to steady himself.

"Practice has been over for fifteen minutes, Jiroh, I think that's a little late for that," his coach gave him a funny look.

"Oh," he couldn't keep the cheeky grin off of his face, "Sorry. I guess I fell asleep."

Sakaki stayed silent and turned back to the rest of the regulars, index finger and thumb massaging the bridge of his nose in an attempt to bid away the impending headache. "Mukahi, Oshitari; work out whatever's been between you. I want it solved before tomorrow's practice otherwise you're both off the team," he watched disapprovingly as Oshitari cast a pitiful gaze over to the redhead only to be snubbed, "Shishido, Hiyoshi..." he looked at the two bruised and battered boys, "If I wanted to see physical contact, I would have stayed home and watched wrestling. Fix those attitudes of yours and learn to get along, otherwise you're off the team as well. Ootori, Atobe, Kabaji, good job as usual. Keep it up," he nodded and glanced at Jiroh, "Practice tomorrow, don't be late," he muttered before walking out.

The tension brimming in the room remained, though, mostly it came radiating off of Gakuto, who was in the process of stuffing all his belongings into his bag and ignoring Yuushi's pathetic attempt at reconciliation and the rest came off Shishido. The latter was still red-faced and somewhat steaming at the ears as Choutarou dabbed his rapidly bruising eye with iodine.

"I don't know about you," Hiyoshi said suddenly, standing up while noticably favouring his left side, "but despite a few minor injuries, I thoroughly enjoyed myself through the course of the day," he wore a satisfied smirk when Shishido leap to his feet and would have pounced had Choutarou not stood as a barrier between them.

Atobe decided that by this point, he'd had enough, "You all are the most pathetic bunch of riff-raff that Ore-sama has ever allowed to be in his company. How do you be grateful by this act of generosity? By acting like a bunch of hooligans, vagrant, uncivilized apes! Get your act together soon otherwise I'll get the principle to expel ALL of you," he eyes them intently, "with the exception of Kabaji and Ootori."

"Usu."

"Thank you, Atobe-san," Choutarou chirped.

"What about me, Atobe?" Jiroh inquired with an innocent wide eyed look, fumbling with the strap of his backpack after it gave a small jerk.

Atobe stared at Jiroh, taking in his signature ruffled hair, the cuteness of his innocent features at the inexplicable cuddly aura that surrounded him, "You too, Jiroh. Just try to be early next time," Atobe sighed. It was no use, no matter how hard he tried; he just couldn't get mad at Jiroh. No one could. He was just like their fluffy team mascot and if he wasn't already on the team, Atobe vowed that he would have done everything in his power to change the symbol of Hyotei Gakuen's mascot to the image of Jiroh.

"Okay!" he squeaked happily and Atobe had to hold back the 'aww' that would have escaped his lips.

But at that exact moment, Jiroh's backpack gave one final jerk and with noticeable sound of 'rib-bit', slid down off of Jiroh's shoulder and onto the floor, where the members of Hyotei stopped silent and stared at it incredulously, mouths agape.

"D-Did Jiroh's backpack just…croak?" Gakuto stepped back, a twitch forming beneath his left eye.

"I believe it did," Oshitari answered, pushing his glasses higher up his nose and trying to ignore the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead.

"No one asked you, Yuushi! Kabaji, did Jiroh's backpack just croak?"

"Usu," Kabaji answered in monotone while Oshitari sulked in the back.

"Jiroh," Atobe's immaculately shaped eyebrow twitched in a very profound and elegant manner, "Explain yourself."

"Well..." Jiroh scratched the back of his head, a semi-guilty look crafted onto his face. When his backpack sudden opened and out hopped the little green frog, he gasped in a mocking fashion and pointed at the amphibian, "There's a frog in my backpack!"

"Shishido-san!" Choutarou jumped into Shishido's awaiting arms.

Gakuto yelped and attempted to jump back from the tiny creature, but only succeeded in crashing into Oshitari who seemed to have the exact same idea in mind.

Hiyoshi just rolled his eyes and muttered an almost inaudible; "Here we go again," while Atobe suddenly found himself on top of the furthest bench on the locker room. He had no recollection on how he got there.

"JIROH!" they all yelled his name at the same time.

The boy in question just gave them an innocent grin and picked up the source of their anxiety (to which Gakuto cringed), "Don't blame Takuya," he said, lifting it up to his cheek, "It is all my fault."

"Eww--eww," Gakuto almost gagged, "he's actually rubbing it against his cheek, Yuus-Kabaji!" he harrumphed and looked away from Oshitari who's glimmer of hope was abruptly crushed beneath the weight of a shameful rejection.

"Well, I'll see you in school tomorrow," Hiyoshi stood up and flung his bag over his shoulders.

"Halt!" Atobe ordered in a commanding tone, "You will just leave us with that monstrosity? Where is your sense of loyalty to your captain?"

"Last time I checked, it was down the drain…"

"Admit it, Hiyoshi, you're just scared!" Shishido scoffed, arms holding Choutarou bridal style against his chest.

Kabaji stood quietly in his place by the door, beady eyes gazing blankly at his seniors who seem to have begun round two of the heated Hyotei versus Hyotei debate. It bid Hiyoshi against Shishido with Choutarou acting (and failing) as the peacekeeper, Gakuto blatantly disregarding Oshitari's pleading while he continued to point, moan and nag at a defensive Jiroh with Takuya still clutched protectively against his chest and Atobe shouting out orders, in a very composed manner, only to be ignored completely by the rowdy group.

All of a sudden, an almost unnoticed movement near the exit doors caught his attention. In a moment that would have made the top of the 'first to happen' list, his eyes widened marginally and he turned back to the boisterous scene. Raising one bulky arm and pointing towards the floor he spoke one of his few full words without prompt by Atobe (not to mention the first word the authoress has written that does not involve the letters 'u' and 's'). Immediately causing an overwhelming wave of silence to wash over the group.

"Snake…"

Seven pairs of eyes snapped to follow the direction he was pointing at. There was a second of completely stillness as the team allowed their brains to absorb the meaning, and then, cue the hysteria.

"SNAKE!" Shishido wailed in a high-pitched girly voice so unbecoming of him and managed to crack a few windows in the process. Lost in the boggle of panic in his own mind, he absentmindedly dropped Choutarou unceremoniously to the ground and jumped back, fidgeting.

"Shishido-sempai?" Choutarou got to his feet immediately, brushing the dust off his clothes and looked at his sempai in concern. He rushed over to Shishido's side and circled his arms around him in a protective manner.

Even Hiyoshi looked startled at the sudden appearance. But being not being a person naturally afraid of such reptiles, not to mention taking in the reaction of his teammates, he came to the devious conclusion that it would be much more amusing to milk the situation for all that it's worth. "Isn't that a coral snake?" he asked, agape, not that he knew anything about snakes, but he had enough sense to figure out that the probability of a coral snake being in a school courtyard in the middle of Japan was highly unlikely, even if it does look a lot like the coral snake pictures he'd seen in the animal magazines…then again, perhaps it would be safer for him to join most of his teammates on the bench, just in case. However, the visual result was still very much amusing.

Oshitari unconsciously loosened the collar of his tennis shirt, gulping. His dislike for snakes was different from with the frog. Where the hopping amphibian only disgusted him, snakes on the other hand educed fear in him. But there was something about Hiyoshi's comment that struck a nerve with him, making his mind fly back to the program he'd caught on the Discovery Channel just one week prior.

The Pueblan Milk snake. A non-poisonous snake commonly mistaken for the coral snake, except for a small difference.

_Red meets black, you're okay Jack. Red meets yellow, you're a dead fellow._

That phrase kept playing over and over in his mind. Looking back towards the snake, he tried to make out the order of the colours, but from his position atop the furthest bench it was quite difficult, topped off by the hectic and panicked state of his teammates, it was just downright impossible.

"Choutarou!" Shishido gave another wail and leapt into his partner's arms.

"Don't worry, Shishido-san," Choutarou said firmly, "I'll protect you," even though he too was deathly terrified of snakes. The important thing now was that Shishido-san needed him, and he'd be damned before he let him down (both figuratively and physically).

"The members of this team are such wimps!" Hiyoshi cried, trying to quench the smirk that threatened to emerge, "I can't believe I came here."

"If you're so brave then, Hiyoshi," Atobe said, disapproving at being referred to as a wimp, "Why don't you catch it?" he eyed the sardonic boy from his position atop the bench.

Hiyoshi rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Because I'm not that stupid."

"NO! Keep it away from Takuya!" Jiroh held his beloved frog firmly in his grasp, not giving any chance for it to hop out and end up as snake food.

"Perhaps this would be a good time to call up Seigaku, Kabaji."

"Usu."

"Hell of a time to decide and exchange love calls with Tezuka isn't it!"

"Not Tezuka, you buffoon, that second year member...whatever his name is."

"And he'd be willing to sacrifice his life to save us, Hyotei, because...? And none of that 'written in the stars' crap."

"How dare you-"

"YUUSHI!"

All conversations stopped at that exact moment in Oshitari's mind. It was his Gakuto's distress laced voice. Looking up, he noticed that while the rest of the members of the team were arguing like a couple of girls in front of the bathroom, the snake had now managed to slither away and was now cornering Gakuto near the shower bend.

"GAKUTO!"

That was it that made up his mind and with one final cry of his beloved's name, he leaped forward, eyes closed and mind chanting out his will. With one frantic sweep, he grabbed the snake in his firm grasp, rushed out the door like his life depended on it (if he had the wrong assumption, than it very may well be the case) and ran like the wind towards the deserted backyard of Hyotei, hair whipping in the wind and the sweat flying off his face. Once he was away from any possible victims, he threw the snake with all his might into the bushes. There was a slight rustling as the snake slithered away.

He could feel the thumping of his heart against his ribcage, his breath coming out in ragged pants. Running a shaking hand through his hair and wiping his wet brow with the back of his arm, he forced himself to calm down. It was not long after when he heard the resounding thunder of footsteps running up to where he was standing, glued to the spot and eyes locked on the place where the snake had disappeared from.

All of a sudden, there was a small yelping sound and he felt himself being tackled forward right onto the ground where he landed in a heap. Groaning slightly, he craned his neck to look behind him at the source of his fall. He gave a sharp intake of breath.

"Gakuto…"

His redheaded lovers' uncharacteristic sombre expression stop the words that had formed on his tongue. They remained in that spot for a full minute. Oshitari lay on his stomach sprawled over the ground; his glasses had been knocked off his face from the impact and now lay on the ground a foot away. Gakuto draped himself over Oshitari, slumped over on bended knees and arms stretched out before him, resting on either side of the tensai's head. His face was set to a mixed expression with Oshitari couldn't decipher, but what stood out the most was the tears that were forming in his eyes and the way his lips were pulled taunt as if to hold back the sob threatening to bubble up.

"Oh, Yuushi!" he cried and dove forwards, arms circling and holding onto Oshitari's neck like a noose; "You're so stupid! You could have been bitten and died!" the choked sob betraying the angered tone he forced into his voice.

His expression softening, going from shocked to touched in less than two seconds, Oshitari reached up and cupped Gakuto's tear streaked cheek in his palm, running his thumb running over his cheekbone to wipe away the droplets. "Gakuto--"

No words were needed after that when Gakuto crashed his lips into Oshitari's, the tears still managing to slip through his closed lids. Getting a second to compose himself, Oshitari abruptly returned the kiss, falling back to the ground and resting on his back, he pulled Gakuto down with him. His right hand running though the silky red locks while the left held Gakuto possessively against his chest.

Neither noticed the people crowding the empty spot a few feet away, amused eyes running over the two lovers.

"It's so sweet…" Choutarou cooed, head tilted to the side allowing his silver bangs to brush against Shishido's brow. His shorter sempai just huffed, but couldn't hide the pleased glint in his eyes either. His arms around Choutarou's hip and he allowed his kouhai to circle his around his shoulders and lean his head against his temple.

"How did _that_ end up in our school anyway?" Hiyoshi inquired only half-heartedly.

At that moment, he, Shishido, Choutarou and Atobe both turned around and looked pointedly over to Jiroh and Takuya. Raising his eyebrows bemused, Jiroh looked from his frog to the four people eyeing him suspiciously and back before sparring them a dazzling grin.

"I don't know," he answered innocently.

None of them thought to press the matter further, Jiroh was just too adorable to be mad at.

"Kabaji, fetch my limo. This scenic view, even though it does involve Oshitari and Mukahi, has inspired Ore-sama to pay a visit to Seigaku," he snapped his fingers before strutting off, hips swaying and hair flowing in the sudden gush of wind.

"Usu," resuming his usual one worded answers, Kabaji lumbered off in step with Atobe.

Shishido shared a look with Choutarou, and in a moment of physic connection between lovers, silently agreed with be off. This left Hiyoshi alone keeping his ground. He didn't know whether to retch his lunch at the sight of the disgusting mush, or…no, retching his lunch out sounded quite appealing.

Gakuto and Oshitari were still sucking each others faces of when he decided to take him leave, as he had intended to do almost an hour ago. Not as if the past two experienced he'd had with the team wasn't already very much entertaining, he vaguely wondered what else did fate have in store with the intrepid members of Hyotei Gakuen high school.

Whatever it was, he hoped that when the time came, he would be there to bear witness to it. After all, one knows not pleasure until one experiences the glee of seeing others in desperate need. And if ever there was a needy team, it was Hyotei Gakuen members, for sure.

"Oh, Yuushi," an aroused moan, "You're my hero!"

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--Owari--

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I saw a documentary on that sometime ago and I guess it just stayed with me.

Haha...I think I forgot to mention how the snake got into the school. Let's just believe that Jiroh's taking Takuya towards the back of the school kind off attracted the snake :D Thanks to **hamburgerjack** for pointing tht out love


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